This chapter is from the book

This chapter is from the book

In
this
chapter,
you'll
learn
how
to
connect
and
login
to
MySQL,
how
to
issue
MySQL
statements,
and
how
to
obtain
information
about
databases
and
tables.

Making
the
Connection

Now that you have a MySQL DBMS and client software to use with it, it would
be worthwhile to briefly discuss connecting to the database.

MySQL, like all client-server DBMSs, requires that you log in to the DBMS
before being able to issue commands. Login names might not be the same as your
network login name (assuming that you are using a network); MySQL maintains its
own list of users internally, and associates rights with each.

When you first installed MySQL, you were probably prompted for an
administrative login (often named root) and a password. If you are
using your own local server and are simply experimenting with MySQL, using this
login is fine. In the real world, however, the administrative login is closely
protected (as access to it grants full rights to create tables, drop entire
databases, change logins and passwords, and more).

Using MySQL Administrator

The MySQL Administrator Users view provides a
simple interface that can be used to define new users, including assigning
passwords and access rights.

To connect to MySQL you need the following pieces of information:

The hostname (the name of the computer)—this is localhost
if connecting to a local MySQL server

The port (if a port other than the default 3306 is
used)

A valid user name

The user password (if required)

As explained in Chapter 2, "Introducing MySQL," all of this
information can be passed to the mysql command-line utility, or entered
into the server connection screen in MySQL Administrator and MySQL Query
Browser.

Using Other Clients

Using Other Clients If you are using a client other than the ones mentioned
here, you still need to provide this information in order to connect to
MySQL.

After you are connected, you have access to whatever databases and tables
your login name has access to. (Logins, access control, and security are
revisited in Chapter 28, "Managing Security").